BTC Reclaims $77K After Violent Squeeze

Bitcoin has bounced back sharply, reclaiming higher ground and dragging the broader crypto market with it after the latest bout of volatility. Leveraged traders were once again caught offside as shorts, not longs, bore the brunt of fresh liquidations.

Bitcoin price snaps back

After testing the low‑60,000s earlier in the week, Bitcoin has recovered strongly and is now trading back in the upper‑60,000 range, erasing a large share of its recent drawdown. The move follows a series of sharp intraday reversals that saw BTC swing from above 75,000 dollars at the start of February to under 63,000 dollars before stabilizing.

This latest upswing has been particularly painful for traders betting against a rebound. As BTC turned higher, an estimated 140 million dollars’ worth of Bitcoin short positions were liquidated over a 24‑hour window, helping to fuel the squeeze higher. While total liquidations are still below the billion‑dollar wipeouts seen in early February, the message is clear: leveraged positioning remains a key driver of intraday price action.

Ethereum and majors join the rally

Ethereum has tracked Bitcoin’s recovery, climbing back toward 1,920 dollars today after briefly dipping under 1,820 dollars earlier in the week. The second‑largest crypto is up more than 5 percent over the past 24 hours, with daily trading volumes topping 18 billion dollars as spot buyers return and short sellers rush to cover.

The bounce has not been limited to BTC and ETH. Market data shows a broad‑based move higher across top altcoins, with majors like XRP and other large caps participating in a relief rally that has pushed the total crypto market cap firmly higher on the day. Derivatives data indicates that more than 100 million dollars in Ethereum shorts were liquidated alongside Bitcoin, with shorts accounting for over 70 percent of all forced position closures during the latest move.​

Liquidations and sentiment shift

The structure of the move is almost a mirror image of the prior crash. Earlier this month, a swift drop in BTC under 65,000 dollars triggered more than 500 million dollars in liquidations, mostly from over‑leveraged long positions caught by the downside break. By contrast, today’s rally is being driven by aggressive short covering, with funding rates normalizing after briefly turning deeply negative at the height of the sell‑off.

Sentiment has shifted from extreme fear toward cautious optimism as traders reassess the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff rhetoric and AI‑linked macro worries on risk assets. Even so, on‑chain and derivatives metrics suggest that leverage remains elevated compared with earlier in the cycle, meaning future swings—up or down—could still be amplified by another cascade of liquidations.